Driving with a bad condensor? (vehicle, fuel, engine, California)

[cotocatmom]

Does anyone know if continuing to drive with a failed a/c condenser and accumulator line can cause any damage to a car? (ie to the engine or other internal parts aside from the a/c?) I obviously do not turn the a/c or fan on, or else the car starts to overheat. I leave it turned off. I'm debating fixing it, but I already spent $1200 at another shop... They replaced the compressor and some other parts, but that wasn't the problem. Took it to the dealership and they immediately said it is the condenser. Really don't want to spend another $1200 and can live without a/c as I live on the coast where it's cooler... Just worried about whether the condenser has any other function aside from a/c? And if leaving it broken can damage the vehicle in the long run.

[Magnatomicflux]

Just don't use the AC and you should be fine. The only other function is it protects your rad from rocks. lol

I'd go ahead and pull the fuse for it as an extra measure of safety.

What are you driving? Maybe you can find the parts at a junk yard.

[Hemlock140]

You didn't say what vehicle. Modern ones will use the A/C whenever the defroster is on, to dry the air. That mneans it's trying to come on even without the AC being turned on. On some there is a belt just for the AC which can be removed, but not many, most share it with other needed devices such as the alternator. I would simply unplug the connector for the power to the compressor. Besides overheating it's reducing your fuel economy.

[d4g4m]

A bad condenser will have zero affect on an engine. If you have decided that you don't want to spend any more money on repairs, you can disconnect the compressor by removing the belt. If you have to loosen or remove parts to remove the belt, just cut it off.

[need4speed2012]

Does anyone know if continuing to drive with a failed a/c condenser and accumulator line can cause any damage to a car?


No

[cotocatmom]

Thank you!! It's a Lincoln Continental (2008) and I live in California so not much defrosting will be happening... I may still get it fixed, but I'd rather think it over and shop for a better deal if possible. At least I know I'm not damaging my car in the mean time. Got the whole 'doom and gloom' thing from the dealership and started to worry.

[stilldriveem]

Oops. Shows my age. I thought from the title you were talking about an ignition condenser. The car will die if that quits.

[duster1979]

Originally Posted by cotocatmom

Thank you!! It's a Lincoln Continental (2008) and I live in California so not much defrosting will be happening... I may still get it fixed, but I'd rather think it over and shop for a better deal if possible. At least I know I'm not damaging my car in the mean time. Got the whole 'doom and gloom' thing from the dealership and started to worry.

Of course they gave you the "gloom and doom" spiel. They don't make any money if you don't have them fix anything.

Originally Posted by stilldriveem

Oops. Shows my age. I thought from the title you were talking about an ignition condenser. The car will die if that quits.

Yeah, that hardly ever happens. Mostly because very few cars with breaker point ignitions are driven on a daily basis, but even when they were the points would usually fail long before the condensor and most people replaced the condensor when they replaced the points since they were cheap and you had no way of knowing when the condensor might go.

[stilldriveem]

Yeah' even when I was driving breaker point cars every day in the 80's (I still have seven cars that use them) I never had an ignition failure. Even on my Dura-Sparkcars I've only lost one module.

[Miller88]

Pull the relay for the AC compressor in the fuse box and don't worry about it if you don't intend to get it fixed. That will stop the AC clutch from engaging (you won't have to play around with bypass pulleys, different belts, etc) when running it in defrost, etc.